AEROSPACE

Hughes Aircraft Wins Patent Suit: The government infringed on a patent owned by the company by using an orbiting-control device on 84 satellites without paying royalties, a federal judge has ruled. The decision by Court of Federal Claims Judge James Turner could cost the government billions of dollars. At issue in the 20-year-old dispute was the government’s liability for using an apparatus called a “velocity control and orientation of a spin-stabilized body” on satellites. Government lawyers had contended that Hughes did not own a valid patent. Turner now must determine what damages the government must pay. Hughes, a subsidiary of General Motors Corp., is seeking more than $3 billion in damages.